As Minnesota’s Hennepin County Medical Center, or HCMC, weighs what closure would mean for patients statewide, health care workers and county officials are pressing lawmakers for an emergency legislative fix. On April 1, the Minnesota Nurses Association’s leadership at the hospital and county representatives described HCMC as a safety-net institution that provides emergency and trauma care regardless of patients’ insurance or ability to pay.
Jeremy Olson-Ehlert, a registered nurse at HCMC and second vice president of the Minnesota Nurses Association, framed the facility’s role during an April 1 press conference at the state Capitol. “HCMC is not just a Minneapolis hospital. It’s Minnesota’s safety net. It is Minnesota’s last line of care,” Olson-Ehlert said at the event, describing the hospital’s work as covering a statewide need rather than a local one.
Officials said HCMC’s position is being threatened by finances that have deteriorated to the point that the hospital is relying on the county for day-to-day liquidity. Hennepin County Commissioner Jeffrey Lunde, who chairs the Hennepin Health Board, said HCMC is facing projected operating losses of up to $50 million in 2026 and about $1.7 billion over the next 10 years, based on projections shared in March with the Hennepin County Board’s budget committee.
Lunde also said HCMC cannot make its $33 million biweekly payroll and must rely on the county to cover the overdraft. He said that reality is part of the urgency behind the push for state action before the legislative session ends May 18, warning that without action by then, HCMC would begin closing in June.
Beyond the near-term cash-flow strain, the group said the hospital’s financial difficulties have built over multiple years and involve both revenue gaps and rising uncompensated costs. Among the factors they cited were the shutdown of Minnesota-based health insurer UCare, which they said owes HCMC $115 million, and ongoing costs tied to treating uninsured and publicly insured patients, who make up the hospital’s majority.
Speakers also pointed to changes scheduled in Medicaid eligibility that they said could further worsen the hospital’s outlook. The group said massive Medicaid eligibility changes under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are set to take effect in 2027, and they cited an analysis by the Minnesota Department of Human Services that about 140,000 Minnesotans are at risk of losing health coverage in the coming decade.
At the April 1 press conference, county leaders and hospital staff warned that a closure would ripple through Minnesota’s emergency care system. Olson-Ehlert said, “Patients will wait significantly longer in emergency departments, and hospitals across Minnesota will lose a partner that they rely on.” She added that there is “no backup plan,” “no extra capacity,” and “no other place for these patients to go,” in remarks made at the Capitol.
Lunde echoed those concerns by describing how the remaining Level 1 trauma resources in the Twin Cities region could absorb additional demand. He said HCMC’s closure would overwhelm places like Regions Hospital in St. Paul and North Memorial in Robbinsdale, and warned that emergency department wait times could rise from about one to two hours to as much as 10 hours.
Lunde and others said cost-saving steps are already underway, but they have not closed the gap. They said that in February HCMC cut its beds by 100, to 390 total, and that in January the hospital stopped accepting most non-emergency transfers from outside Hennepin County, a move they said put strain on rural hospitals—while describing HCMC’s responsibilities as extending beyond serving its own local area.
As they seek legislative help, officials described a proposal that would shift how a county sales tax is used. Lunde said they were looking at repurposing the county’s 0.15% sales tax, currently used to pay off bonds for the Minnesota Twins stadium, into a 1% tax that they said would generate about $340 million annually for HCMC. He said he expects a bill supporting the tax to be introduced Tuesday in the state House after the Legislature reconvenes following the Easter/Passover break, and he said it would be introduced by a member of the DFL Party with a Republican co-signer.